Fuel Tank Leaking

First of all my battery packed up, not really a problem as I knew it was on its way out.

I put the battery on charge at about 16:00 hrs and at about 18:00hrs I went back down the shed to check its status.

When I walked in the shed I could smell petrol and noticed the shed floor was wet, then I saw that my fuel tank had deposited all of its contents on my floor.

I removed the tank and have found that the tank at the rear is leaking fuel, just around where the two vents exit on the lower edge.

I removed the fuel pump for access to the internal area of the fuel tank and could clearly see that one of the two internal tubes was cracked and was allowing fuel to enter the breather tube and flow out of the vent.

The worst bit is that someone had bodged it before with some silicone sealant shit. Wankers could have killed me!!!

The way I look at it is I have a few options:

Buy a new fuel tank @ just over £1200.00 - No thanks.

Buy a second hand fuel tank and pay to have it painted and decalled up - possibility as I may have a custom paint job done at the same time.

Second hand tanks are going for around £100 at the moment, decals should be about £30 and around £75 to paint. Not gonna be cheap is it.

Or I could break out the resin and attempt a proper repair.

Anyone come across this before, constructive advice welcome, piss takers can fook off cause I've had a sense of humour failure now!!!

First of all my battery packed up, not really a problem as I knew it was on its way out.

I put the battery on charge at about 16:00 hrs and at about 18:00hrs I went back down the shed to check its status.

When I walked in the shed I could smell petrol and noticed the shed floor was wet, then I saw that my fuel tank had deposited all of its contents on my floor.

I removed the tank and have found that the tank at the rear is leaking fuel, just around where the two vents exit on the lower edge.

I removed the fuel pump for access to the internal area of the fuel tank and could clearly see that one of the two internal tubes was cracked and was allowing fuel to enter the breather tube and flow out of the vent.

The worst bit is that someone had bodged it before with some silicone sealant shit. Wankers could have killed me!!!

The way I look at it is I have a few options:

Buy a new fuel tank @ just over £1200.00 - No thanks.

Buy a second hand fuel tank and pay to have it painted and decalled up - possibility as I may have a custom paint job done at the same time.

Second hand tanks are going for around £100 at the moment, decals should be about £30 and around £75 to paint. Not gonna be cheap is it.

Or I could break out the resin and attempt a proper repair.

Anyone come across this before, constructive advice welcome, piss takers can fook off cause I've had a sense of humour failure now!!!

Alan, sorry to hear ya bad news mate, wish I could help, I might have a look at mine tomorrow...just to check all is well.
let me know when you have got over your sense of humour failure! and I will rib the fuck out of ya

without opening the tank I was sure that i had the same problem, I was to scared to open it when you can just plug those together to fix the problem temporarily. lol so what's inside the tank is it fixable?

her tourniquet broke off, couldn't handle the high octane injection! doo doo here, doo doo there, doo doo everywhere!<br> I lowered/modded the sensor two tabs down so I will fool myself and get more MPG until I see the fuel warning light. lol She is naked again! clutch plates are next!
I will update/mod the hoses and use a little longer(3.5 feet totall), it's very easy to put your hand in there, its' a very easy fix. on the manual everything looks so little. I'm thinking about finding a solution for the Overflow hose without polluting the environtment.

Yo AMB let's see what's in your man! I highly recommend everyone to clean up theirs it was full of rocks, organic litter and melted rubber! everywhere! Spray high pressure on the pre-pump filter it's full of sand and other stuff!!!!(California Gas) I will change the fuel filter too, it looks i could find one at walmart
Cheers, folks!

OK, all you piss takers can fill yer boots now. My sense of humour has now officially been reinstated.

I've repaired my tank and it cost me £8.99 and the loss of a gallon or two of fuel.

Some piccies of the repair:

This shows the vent nipples, the corroded one is the one that was blocked and had fuel leaking from it.

The rusty vent nipple and the internal pipe in this shot, you can see the repair I did internally on the pipe on the left.

This shot just shows you what a shite design it is.

Shot of the vent nipples and how I had to set them in resin to ensure that the repair was permanent.

All rebuilt and a repair to the Nomex heat reflector plate too.

How I did it:

I inserted a 5mm bolt in to the hole and then repaired the cracked pipe with Quik Steel Plastic Tank kit. You have to ensure that the area is very clean and has no remnants of petrol, oil or grease. Rough the area up with a little sandpaper, emery cloth etc.... and apply the repair compound.

NOTE: Be careful not to apply too much pressure to the pipe as they are pretty fragile.

Once that set I unscrewed the bolt and then used Araldite Plastic repair kit (make sure you use the one that is impervious to fuel, oil etc...) to cover the previous repair. Just makes the pipe a little more sturdier and gives it a 100% seal.

I then set the vent nipples in resin making sure that I didn't get too much resin overflow and block the vent pipe like the last tosser did.

I then let all this set overnight and tested it with a small amount of fuel. All was well after leaving the repaired bit immersed in fuel overnight.

Rebuilt the tank and fitted back on the bike, added some fuel and left it to ensure that no seepage occurs.

It's looking good so far.

Yes that is a television in the background of the piccies, gotta have your comforts at hand.

Excellent Job, man!
Major,AMB and Super are working as a web team fixing an Italiana Exotica and uploading pictures. lol I will go to Autozone to buy 3.5 foot long thick hose for internal submersible for my tank and 3.5 foot long external hose for the fuel overflow and the coolant overflow . I will stick them out the sexy silver fairings of my beast this time I hated when the fuel leaked on my pipe and caught fire! lol
maybe this time I will see quick flames and the coolant overflow will put it out when I pop a wheelie when I get scared shitless. lol
I'm thinking about modding the tank somehow for the ultimate fuel drain. I might put a valve or something on the main fuel line I think that's the best way to drain it and I might route the Fuel overflow through a bottle cartridge to save the excessive fuell before it actually overflows.. m uahahah

P.S.I figured out that you can re-use the Aprilia stock cuffs as long as you twist them off sideways.
it might damage the hose but who cares it has cracks already. I'm not using cheapo 99 cent cuffs for inside the tank.lol I'm using Kanye West "crack music" . it's so hilarious! Specially when working on fixing a crack. lol cut it, measure it, bag it, buy it from Autozone! lol

I inserted a 5mm bolt in to the hole and then repaired the cracked pipe with Quik Steel Plastic Tank kit. You have to ensure that the area is very clean and has no remnants of petrol, oil or grease. Rough the area up with a little sandpaper, emery cloth etc.... and apply the repair compound.

NOTE: Be careful not to apply too much pressure to the pipe as they are pretty fragile.

Once that set I unscrewed the bolt and then used Araldite Plastic repair kit (make sure you use the one that is impervious to fuel, oil etc...) to cover the previous repair. Just makes the pipe a little more sturdier and gives it a 100% seal.

I then set the vent nipples in resin making sure that I didn't get too much resin overflow and block the vent pipe like the last tosser did.

I then let all this set overnight and tested it with a small amount of fuel. All was well after leaving the repaired bit immersed in fuel overnight.

Rebuilt the tank and fitted back on the bike, added some fuel and left it to ensure that no seepage occurs.

It's looking good so far.

Yes that is a television in the background of the piccies, gotta have your comforts at hand.